Now, this must be the episode that inspires The Crusade's
huge reputation among fans! I would say it's near perfect. The bit at
the start where Haroun outwits the guards who are searching for Barbara
appears to be written for laughs and then filmed seriously, so that it
jars somewhat; but it's not the place for light relief anyway, so only a
script rewrite could have saved it. And that's pretty much all I've got
by way of negative criticism. One short scene - and even that contains a
great shot of Barbara running up to the camera - followed by more than
20 minutes of gold. My son and I were gripped.
We're lucky to have this episode, too, like The Lion and the soundtrack to the two that are still otherwise missing. A copy of The Wheel of Fortune was found at the BBC Film Library, who had only been given it by accident. Phew!
So. Douglas Camfield has really got his act together since his
good-but-not-great work on the first episode, and provides us with some
excellent shots. Nothing is quite so wacky and inventive as The Web Planet,
but everything works and fits together nicely. I could point to some
lovely lighting (Barbara lit through the grille in Haroun's house, El
Akir and his solder lit by the torch between them), lots of closeups,
and places where you can draw a vertical line down the scene and see
very different views in the two halves; but it's the consistent quality that really makes it.
The sets continue to be of good quality. We see more of Richard's castle
- including a clever view out of a window - and it really does feel
more like a castle than a set. The streets around Haroun's house - and
the house itself - are good too.
William Russell was on holiday the week this was recorded, so we don't
get as much of the newly-knighted Sir Ian as I'd hoped; but, the
prefilmed sequence in the desert means that his absence wasn't at all
obvious. Still, it's really a game of two plots: political machinations
in the castle, and El Akir's hunt for Barbara in Lydda.
Taking the former first, this is where we have some appropriate
lightheartedness. The scene with the Doctor being fitted with a
completely tasteless "cloak of shiny" can be read as him getting
comfortably settled in the world of Shakespearean drama while
simultaneously laughing at it; or it can be a seen as just a bit of fun,
an indicator that we can relax more in the castle scenes. Following
this up with the conclusion of the Victor/Victoria ("no, just Vicki")
subplot emphasises the mood.
Julian Glover and Jean Marsh are on fiery form. It's fun just to watch
them in action, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the dialogue. In
the scenes involving them I didn't care about the plot, to be honest,
because I was simply enjoying the performance. The actors around them
seem to be invigorated and "raise their game" too - William Hartnell,
for instance, shines both in his throneroom confrontation with the Earl
of Leicester and at the end, when he realises he has lost. The one scene
with Saladin and Saphadin is really part of the palace politics thread,
too; and it's a powerful one, thanks both to Camfield's direction and
the actors' performances.
On to Barbara's scenes, then, and the far more intense half of the
episode. The ever-reliable Jacqueline Hill, given the opportunity to
show what she can do, is beautifully expressive - without contradicting
Barbara's rather reserved character. It's a fine line to walk, but she
treads it effortlessly. She has good support from Petra Markham (sister
of makeup designer Sonia Markham) as Safiya; the scene where they are
hiding in the secret alcove is beautiful, because they are both scared
but show it in such different ways. The whole business with the knife is
quite harrowing, and Camfield pulls no punches - I don't know how long
that extreme closeup of Barbara contemplating it is held, but it felt
like ages.
And then, it's all for nothing. Haroun is killed, Barbara is recaptured,
leaving Safiya silently crying. Brr. The mood could have been spoilt by
a cartoon El Akir, but fortunately we have a slightly more subtle
villain; and we close on a defiant Barbara. Death is so very far away,
but so is the next episode. I hope I don't have to wait a week to find
out what happens next...
Broadcast:
Date: Saturday, 10th April 1965
Viewers: 9.0 million
Chart Position: 32
Appreciation Index: 49
Rating:
I wavered for a long time between 9.5 and 10 but to be honest its flaws
are so minor that it would be churlish to dock it a whole half-mark, so
for only the second time in the blog thus far (and pushing The Velvet Web into third place):
10/10.
Next Time:
The Warlords.
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